IoT Feels Unintended Consequences

John Daane, Altera Corp.
EETimes (1/8/2015 10:50 AM EST)

The Internet of Things will require more horsepower in datacenter servers and flexibility at end nodes for security -- issues that play well to FPGAs.

As we look toward 2015, many of the dynamics that have supported the programmable logic industry in recent years remain in place. ASIC and ASSP design-costs spiral, uncertainties about functionality grow, and high-volume opportunities are rare.

New dynamics and the evolving Internet of Things (IoT), however, are creating an uncertain environment with unintended consequences. As the industry struggles to make the IoT work, two trends will emerge that play directly into the strengths of programmable logic, creating great opportunities for FPGAs.

The concept behind the IoT is simple: If a device is controlled by electronics, you can simply connect the controller to the Internet to accept commands with a smartphone or cloud application. The end result is a device composed of sensors and actuators with network interfaces, all connecting across the Internet to control software.

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